Heh: my experience was like others', but the difference was a) I read Hanselman regularly and b) I remembered he had a list of tricks for Win 8.

MS did blow it, because (I would say "as usual") they ignored the psychological effect on users of what they were doing. Recent reports, including one today in Mashable and based on newly-acquired information, boot to desktop and start menu will be part of the refresh coming this summer.

Anyway, I would not choose to give up my Win 8, even though Win7 was a good OS, also.

>THANK YOU!!!
>
>I've been saying this for months.
>
>
>>I've been using Win8 for a few months. I rarely see the Metro screen: Win+m brings you right to the desktop. I pin the apps I use frequently to the taskbar; have infrequently used ones on the desktop. When I have to find something not there, I press the Win key, and begin typing: the list comes up, I select from the list, and I'm back on the desktop. It's really not a bother, at all.
>>
>>The OS itself is by far the smoothest I have used from MS, which is where almost all of my history and experience is. I enjoy the smoothness. Things are fast (but that's probably partly the machine: i7, 750GB hybrid drives, mirrored). Crashing an app is even smoother than Win7.
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>>Oh, the only other trick you need (I think): when you want to restart, don't bother going to the metro screen: click on the desktop screen, enter alt+F4 (just like the old days).
>>
>>Hank